• Home
  • About

ArtPlantae Today

Connecting artists, naturalists, and educators

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Learn Botanical Art at Achill Secret Garden in Ireland
Trees, Bees & Honey at UC Berkeley »

The History of Botany in the US

February 24, 2012 by Tania Marien

Why are botany labs organized the way they are?

When was the first botany class taught?

Is “plant blindness” a recent infliction or is there evidence of it happening long before our time?

When was field work incorporated into botany instruction? You mean field work had to be deliberately integrated into botany class and wasn’t always a logical, natural extension of the learning process?

The answers to these questions can be found in Botanical Education in the United States: Part 1, The Impact of Linneaus and the Foundations of Modern Pedagogy, the first installment of a series of articles about the history of botany education in the United States. This history lesson taught by Marshall D. Sundberg, Botany Professor at Emporia State University, is one you won’t want to miss.

Sundberg (2011) is a great storyteller and presents hundreds of years worth of information in a way that will keep you reading to find out what comes next. In his article, Sundberg (2011) introduces readers to key figures in US botanical history and sets up a timeline that is easy to follow. Here is a quick look at the fascinating people you get to learn about while reading Sundberg’s article:

  • Carl Linnaeus: Linnaeus and his Philosophia Botanica influenced botany instruction in the US.
  • Cadwallader Colden: Colden was an Irish immigrant who collected the plants of New York and corresponded with Linnaeus.
  • Jane Colden: Jane was Cadwallader’s daughter. She was well-versed in Linnaeus’ classification system (thanks to her dad). The first woman botanist in the United States, Jane’s detailed plant descriptions and botanical illustrations were highly regarded by her male peers.
  • Adam Kuhn: A student of Linnaeus, Kuhn became the first botany professor in the US.
  • Benjamin Waterhouse: The “first endowed professor of botany and entomology” (Sundberg, 2011), Waterhouse taught the first regularly-offered botany course in the US. In the natural history course he taught at Harvard, he stressed the importance of drawing in education.
  • Benjamin Smith Barton: Self-published the first botany textbook.
  • David Hosack: Hosack studied with William Curtis, brought duplicate specimens from Linnaeus’ herbarium back to the US, and built a botanical garden in New York to emphasize the value of gardens as teaching tools.
  • Amos Eaton: A New York lawyer interested in natural history and making botany practical for young students, Eaton demonstrated the positive impact laboratory work and field work has on student learning.

The impressive contributions these individuals made to botany education in the US, and how their lives intersected, are explained in Sundberg (2011). In his carefully researched article, Sundberg (2011) provides insight into the history of US botany, insight into the history of teaching and learning, and insight into the history of botanical illustration in the US. The series Marshall Sunderg has launched is difficult to summarize because of its breadth. It is so interesting, I don’t know how to describe it.

So allow me to say simply this…

Read this article!


Literature Cited

Sundberg, Marshall D. 2011. Botanical education in the United States: Part 1, The impact of Linnaeus and the foundations of modern pedagogy. Plant Science Bulletin. 57(4): 134-158. Winter 2011. Web.
<http://www.botany.org/plantsciencebulletin>. [accessed February 21, 2012]



Related History

  • Lessons for a Young Botanist
  • Letters to a Friend Become Classic Work in Botanical Art
  • Botany Education in the 18th Century

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in botany, Teaching & Learning |

  • I’m curious about…

  • What Readers Are Reading Now

    • California
    • Washington DC
    • Graphite Artist Writes About Techniques to Achieve Realism in Botanical Art
    • Anna Knights Creates Botanical Paintings with Captivating Detail
    • Florida
  • Plants & You

  • Featured Guests

    Wendy Hollender (interview)

    Wendy Hollender

    Gilly Shaeffer

    Today’s Botanical Artists

    Society of Botanical Artists

    Billy Showell (interview)

    Billy Showell

    Sarah Simblet (webinar)

    Robin Brickman

    Mark Granlund

    Wendy Hollender (webinar)

    Diane Cardaci

    Katie Lee (webinar)

    Bruce L. Cunningham (webinar)

    Jane LaFazio (interview)

    Jane LaFazio

    Mally Francis (interview)

    Kandis Elliot

    Anne-Marie Evans

    Margaret Best

    Elaine Searle

    Mindy Lighthipe

    Niki Simpson

    Anna (Knights) Mason

    Helen Allen

    Birmingham Society of
    Botanical Artists

    Hazel West-Sherring

    John Muir Laws

    Martin J. Allen

    Institute for Analytical Plant Illustration

    Mairi Gillies

    Georgius Everhardus Rumphius

    Liz Leech

    Valerie Littlewood

    Heeyoung Kim

    Anna Laurent

    Linda Ann Vorobik

    Shawn Sheehy

    Gary Hoyle

    Katie Zimmerman

    Mariella Baldwin

    Anita Walsmit Sachs

    Ruth Ava Lyons

    Katie Zimmerman

    Kellie Cox-Brady

    Jennifer Landin

    Laurence Hill

    Gretchen Kai Halpert

    Susan Leopold

    Tina Scopa

  • Global Impact

    Botanists and illustrators strive to document conifers around the world.

  • Nature Near You

    Global Directory of Botanical Gardens
    Botanic Gardens Conservation International
    Search for a Garden

    National Park Service
    Search for national parks at the National Park Service website.www.nps.gov

    National Environmental Education Foundation's Nature Center Guide.
    Find Your Nature Center

    Rails-to-Trails
    Find a trail for hiking, walking, cycling or inline skating. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and its volunteers work to convert unused railroads into trails for healthful outdoor activities.
    Search their national TrailLink database to locate a trail near you.

    Sierra Club Trails
    Locate trails for hiking, cycling, climbing, and many other outdoor activities.
    Search Sierra Club Trails

  • © 2007-2022 by Tania Marien. All rights reserved.
    Contact Tania

    Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Artists retain the copyright to their work.

    The ArtPlantae® logo is a registered trademark.

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • ArtPlantae Today
    • Join 1,788 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • ArtPlantae Today
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: